Art Gallery Visit 2

Step 1: The Exhibition

1.    What is the title of the exhibit?


For this project I visited the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo. The exhibit I chose to analyze was called A Birthday Party: A Community of Artists.

2.    What is the theme of the exhibition?

The theme of this exhibition was that every painting, sculpture and work was created by an artist that was from Buffalo and had some connection in working with Buffalo State College.

Step 2: The Gallery

1.    What type of lighting is used?


The lighting that was used was simple overhead lights. These lights were mostly focused on the edges of the ceiling and shined directly onto the art works, lighting them up brightly, while the surrounding wall space was left unlit.

2.    What colors are used on the walls?

The wall color for this entire exhibit was dark blue.


     3. What materials are used in the interior architecture of the space?


The interior architecture of the exhibit was very nice. There were benches in the middle of the room facing the art so visitors could sit and admire the work, there was also a large table with chairs that visitors could sit and relax and have a place to set their stuff, rest, or even sketch. 

4.    How is the movement of the viewer through the gallery space?

The movement of the viewer was guided through the space by half walls in the center of the room. Instead of being in an empty room where one could see all four walls lined with art, there were various bent half walls that had useful information on the theme and artists. These bent walls formed a sort of hallway that the viewer was forced to walk through that lead them in a specific direction around the art gallery.  For example, as I walked in the gallery space I could not walk straight to the opposite side of the room, instead I was forced to follow the hallway to the right and circle clockwise around the exhibit.

Step 3: The Artwork

11. How are the artworks organized?

The artworks were organized by artist. Each portion of the gallery was a specific artist.

22. How are the artrworks similar?

The artworks were similar in that they were all done by artists that lived in worked in the Buffalo area. 

33. How are the artworks different?

The artworks were different because each piece had a completely different theme, design, color scheme, meaning, and style. If a viewer walked into this gallery without knowing that they were all done by Buffalo artists, they could probably not find a single common theme between the artworks. Some were completely abstract while others were realist, no two painting were alike.

44. How are the artworks framed?

The artworks were framed differently as well; some had elaborate or thick frames while others were just canvases hung up without a frame or had a very thin frame.

55. How are the artworks identified and labeled?

Beside each painting there was a plaque with the artist’s name, dates of birth and death, the year the painting was created, the title of the piece and the medium. In the center of the gallery there were large plaques dedicated to the individual artists who created the art works, each plaque had a biography of the person, significance in the Buffalo area and background information of the style of art they preferred.

66. What is the proximity of the artwork to each other?

The art was spaced evenly apart from one another, when the section of artwork changed artists, however, there was a bigger break in the spacing to signify a difference in painter.

Step 4: Art Criticism Exercise

Select three of the artworks from the show and use the Art Criticism worksheet to desribe, analyze, bracket and interpret the work using the 5-step Art Criticism Process described. (see the sheet in the module folder)

Several Summers Ago, 1966.
Oil on Canvas
Virginia Cuthbert
40 1/4 x 50 inches 

https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/collection/object:1980-005-000-several-summers-ago/
Description: This painting depicts three people relaxing on a mid summers day while playing croquet.
Analyze: The biggest element used in this painting is color, specifically the artist's use of warm colors. This painting has various shades of pink, orange, yellow which evoke feelings of happiness, relaxation, optimism and coziness. Texture is also an important element especially in the trees, grass and bushes, the brush strokes make the viewer's believe that they can actually see and feel the leaves and branches. A principle used in this painting is proportion, the people are exactly the same size as the viewer would expect. These people are much smaller than the world around them, especially in comparison to the trees and shrubbery.
Bracket: This painting reminds me of relaxing on a care free afternoon, a much needed safe haven in a crazy world.
Interpretation: I believe the artist was trying to paint a scene that they wised they were living in the moment.

The Trojan Horse, 1951.
Oil on Canvas
Martha Visser't Hooft
34 x 48 inches

ttps://www.burchfieldpenney.org/collection/object:1996-012-000-the-trojan-horse/
Description: This painting depicts the Greek tale of the trojan horse. 
Analyze: An element used in this painting is line. Line is used in the picture to hold up the mechanical horse but it also serves to lead the viewer's eye from one part of the painting to the other. Shape is also very important to this painting because it's style is similar to cubism. The parts of the horse are made up of various shapes such as triangles, rectangles and squares. A principle used in this painting is contrast, the difference in the bright red background and the dark blue horse draw the viewers eye directly to the middle section of the horse, which also is the spot where the people from the tale are hiding out. 
Bracketing: This painting reminds me of my high school english class because we spent months on Greek mythology and literature. This painting brings back these memories. As I have pointed out before, the allegory that the painting refers to is the tale of the trojan horse, which was the trick that the Greeks used to enter the city of Troy during the Trojan War. In this story, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, decisively ending the war.
Interpretation: I believe the artist was using a famous story as the subject of her painting because everyone who saw it would immediately know what it was about. 

Self Portrait, 1941.
Oil on Board
Virginia Cuthbert
30 7/8 x 36 3/4 inch

https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/collection/object:1994-020-003-self-portrait/
Description: This painting depicts Virginia Cuthbert, herself. She is painting in her studio and seems to be looking directly at the viewer. 
Analysis: A big element used in this painting is space. Cuthbert is working in a very cluttered studio where there is little to no space between her supplies, and while the artist could have chosen not to include all the painting canvases and supplies in the bottom half of her painting, I believe she utilized the lack of space in order to communicate to the viewer her passion in her art. Another element used in this painting is value and how it is used to create shadows. In Virginia's figure the right half of her body is bathed in sunlight while her left side is left in shadows. The difference in shadows lies directly to the right of her eyes which also brings emphasis to her face. The contrast in values contributes to the emphasis that draws to viewer's eye directly to her face where she is staring directly back into our eyes. Proportion is also used because Virginia's body is exactly the size we would expect it to be in comparison to the easels and cupboard. 
Bracketing: This painting reminds me of of a similar painting we learned about in the text book, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Edouard Manet. In each work the subject of the painting is a woman looking directly into the viewer's eyes. They both have limited space around them as one is in a paint studio the other is at a bar. 
Interpretation: I believe that the artist created a self portrait to communicate to the viewer's her passion for art, her personal style and give them a glimpse into her personal life. 

4.    What did you think of visiting the Gallery and purposefully looking at the exhibition from a different perspective - the physical space, the architecture, theme, etc.?

I thought that visiting an art gallery specifically with the intention to analyze the structure, architecture and theme of the exhibits was very interesting. I have been to many many art museums in my life but I have never really taken the time to admire the way the room was set up. I have always been too consumed with my focus on the art itself but this project made me realize that the spacing and design of the room plays just as important of a part in my experience as the art does, especially regarding the way the internal structure of the room makes the visitor move in a specific way. I mean, a painting hung haphazardly in a dull and messy room is certainly different than the same painting hung with care with a specific way and spacing in a neat and organized room.  I would be very interested in going back to past museums I have visited and paying more attention to the physical space to see how it influenced my ideas of the museum subconsciously.